After a hypodermic needle has been used to inject medication or extract blood or other body fluids from a patient, the needle is contaminated with the patient's blood and/or body fluids. A medical attendant, if punctured by the used syringe needle, is at risk of being infected by diseases present in the patient's blood and/or body fluid. The insertion of the contaminated needle into a protective endcap renders the needle safe for subsequent handling and/or disposal. However, the medical attendant attempting to insert the contaminated needle into the endcap is exposed to risk of accidental puncture.
Protective endcaps of conventional design require the medical attendant to hold the endcap in one hand and the syringe in the other hand. The attendant must properly align the needle with the open end of the endcap and then insert the needle into the endcap. The open end of the endcap may snap fit or be threaded onto the exterior of the fitting at the base of the needle. Obviously, if the attendant misaligns the needle and the endcap opening when attempting to insert the needle into the endcap, the hand holding the endcap may be punctured. Additionally, even if the needle and the endcap are properly aligned during insertion, there is a risk of the needle piercing the cap and puncturing the attendant's hand.
In an attempt to overcome the risk of accidental puncture inherent with endcaps requiring the use of two hands to linearly insert the needle into the endcap, endcaps allowing for single-handed insertion have been proposed. These devices characteristically have an endcap portion and an attached clamping member. The clamping member slidably attaches to the syringe barrel. The medical attendant holding the syringe may move the clamping member up or down the syringe barrel with one finger thereby advancing or retracting the endcap portion to effectuate encapsulation of the tip of the needle.
Unfortunately, these proposed single-handed endcaps are complex and expensive to manufacture as compared to endcaps requiring two hands to insert. In addition, hypodermic syringes have various barrel diameters depending on the manufacturer and the application. Since the proposed single-handed endcaps do not have adjustable diameter clamping members, different sizes of endcaps would have to be manufactured to correspond to the various hypodermic needle barrel diameters.